Of art and antennae

Of art and antennae

Courtesy of Tohono Chul Park Artist Gwynn Popovac's “Fiery Searcher” — a mixed-media depiction of a ground beetle on a gate — will join works by 22 other artists in Tohono Chul Park's exhibit.

Of art and antennae

Courtesy of Tohono Chul Park For her mixed-media “Cockroach” (detail above), Northwest artist Jennifer Eschedor used an image of a cockroach carved from linoleum to make a print on batik fabric. Eschedor will have three other works in Tohono Chul's upcoming “Artful Insects and Inspired Arachnids” exhibit, which opens May 22.

Northwest artist Jennifer Eschedor may be onto something when
she suggests that many experience “drastic” reactions when they see
bugs.

Some scream at the mere sight of them. Others derive wicked
satisfaction from the sound of an exoskeleton crunching
underfoot.

But to call a bug a work of art, isn’t that drastic, too? What
tangled web of logic would ever produce such a thought?

The beauty of lacey wings and feathery antennae, however, has
ensnared Eschedor.

The former Orange Grove Middle School art teacher will display
several of her insect-inspired works in the Tohono Chul Park
exhibit “Artful Insects and Inspired Arachnids,” which opens
Thursday, May 22.

In one of her works for the Tohono Chul show, an ethereal
cockroach rests atop a splotchy backdrop of red and green. Eschedor
made a print of the hellish bug on batik fabric, a cloth with a
design created by dying layers of fabric partially coated with
wax.

The wax repels the dye, forcing variances of color across each
sheet.

In Eschedor’s work, aptly titled “Cockroach,” reddish-orange
dots float on a pool of green. The colors appear to seep right
through the transparent roach.

Eschedor then went over the fabric with pastels and markers to
fine-tune her work.

“It’s an obsession,” she said.

That people could have such passion for what many consider
passionless creatures is the key reason behind the Tohono Chul
exhibit, according to curator Vicki Donkersley.

“I want people to understand that insects have a really
important role in our universe,” Donkersley explained. “Doing it
with art makes them a lot less threatening.”

The small creatures persist despite the odds, pollinating the
plants that feed the planet, devouring rot and loosening and
fertilizing the soil beneath our feet.

To mark the exhibit’s May 22 opening, Tohono Chul will hold a
reception honoring the artists’ work. The event, which will run
from 5:30 to 7:30 that Thursday, is free with park admission and
open to the public.

Gwynn Popovac, one of 23 artists featured in the Tohono Chul
exhibit, considers humans’ interactions with the insect world a
matter of respect.

“Insects can live without us, but we can’t live without them,”
the California-based artist said in a phone interview last
week.

For 30 years, Popovac has featured the six- and eight-legged
creatures in her work.

“I started out being dazzled by insects as a child,” she said.
“They always had been in the periphery of my work. Eventually they
came to be the focus.”

One of her works for the Tohono Chul exhibit, the “Fiery
Searcher,” depicts a ground beetle crawling up a gate. The insect
appears as an integral part of the gate, as much a part of the
metalwork as any other decorative flourish, perhaps going unnoticed
by passers-by. But the ground beetle serves a purpose: to devour
caterpillars that prey upon garden plants.

“I was really trying to show how closely we live with them,”
Popovac said. “If we learn to appreciate them, then maybe we learn
to appreciate our role better.”

Perhaps the art featured at Tohono Chul might inspire a little
more wonder — even begrudging respect — from the entomophobes among
us.

“They’re little works of art walking around on six or eight
legs,” Donkersley noted.